Under Armour has had a bumpy ride the last couple of years, but has recovered some of the losses amid significant management changes, Al Root writes in this week's edition of Barron's. It could be a good time to take a fresh look at the stock as a contrarian bet, before margins improve and Wall Street warms to the turnaround plan, Root says. Reference Link

Constellation Brands (STZ), which has enhanced its popularity among investors with its taste for cannabis, announced that President Bill Newlands will succeed Rob Sands as CEO, Bill Alpert writes in this week's edition of Barron's. Wall Street analysts expect Newlands to continue pressing Sands' bets on premium beers and marijuana, including the company's $4B investment in cannabis producer Canopy Growth (CGC), the report notes. Reference Link

Citizens Financial (CFG) has one of the hottest lending niches in the world and it is the exclusive financing partner for iPhones bought directly from Apple (AAPL), Lawrence Strauss writes in this week's edition of Barron's. Initiatives like that are helping the bank post steady growth in its total book of loans at a time when many rivals are struggling for any growth at all, the report notes. But the market has not given Citizens Financial any credit for strong loan growth and improving returns, Strauss contends. Reference Link

A year ago, Facebook's (FB) global dominance made it the perfect stock but today, that dominance has exposed the company to security issues and privacy concerns, Al Root writes in this week's edition of Barron's. In assessing the latest bout of market volatility, Barron's decided to come up with a more systematic approach to measuring FAANG - Facebook, Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google (GOOGL; GOOG) - risk. Netflix emerged as the winner in Barron's initial risk assessment, Root says, as it is less vulnerable to privacy and trade issues. But its risks are mounting, with the streaming giant likely meeting its fiercest competition to date next year, when Disney (DIS) launches its new streaming service, the publication adds. Reference Link

Alibaba (BABA), Tencent (TCEHY) and Baidu (BIDU) have sold off sharply this year but Barron's roundtable experts - Laura Geritz, Justin Leverenz, Ruchir Sharma, and Richard Sneller - say the market is "unfairly" discounting the growth potential of these internet stocks. Reference Link

BlackRock (BLK), Fidelity, Invesco (IVZ) and T. Rowe Price (TROW) are battling class-action suits related to fund selection and oversight of their 401k plans, and they are not alone as more than 128 cases have been filed since 2016, including Charles Schwab (SCHW), M&T Bank (MTB), Morgan Stanley (MS), Neuberger Berman, and JPMorgan (JPM), Daren Fonda writes in this week's edition of Barron's. While they must abide by regulatory and legal standards aimed at preventing self-dealing, fund companies tend to load plans almost exclusively with their own funds and related investments, the suits state. Regardless of whether these cases have merit, they show that 401k investors often pay steep fees for funds sold by their employers that do not produce better returns than low-cost index funds, Fonda notes. Reference Link

The suspected killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is costing Saudi Arabia most of the big names that it hoped would adorn a conference known as "Davos in the Desert," with JPMorgan (JPM), BlackRock (BLK), Blackstone Group (BX) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying they will not attend the investment initiative, Bill Alpert writes in this week's edition of Barron's. With the crown prince now allowing the kingdom's subjects to enjoy public entertainments, big plans have been announced by the movie exhibitors AMC (AMC) and IMAX (IMAX), as well as the theme-park operator Six Flags (SIX), Barron's points out, adding that exhibitions in Saudi Arabia are already contributing to the bottom line of WWE (WWE). Reference Link